Anant, V., Kerman, A. J., Dauler, E. A., Yang, J. K. W., Rosfjord, Kine M., & Berggren, K. K. (2008). Optical properties of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. Opt. Express, 16(14), 10750.
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Dauler, E., Kerman, A., Robinson, B., Yang, J., Voronov, B., Goltsman, G., et al. (2009). Photon-number-resolution with sub-30-ps timing using multi-element superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. J. Modern Opt., 56(2), 364–373.
Abstract: A photon-number-resolving detector based on a four-element superconducting nanowire single photon detector is demonstrated to have sub-30-ps resolution in measuring the arrival time of individual photons. This detector can be used to characterize the photon statistics of non-pulsed light sources and to mitigate dead-time effects in high-speed photon counting applications. Furthermore, a 25% system detection efficiency at 1550 nm was demonstrated, making the detector useful for both low-flux source characterization and high-speed photon-counting and quantum communication applications. The design, fabrication and testing of this detector are described, and a comparison between the measured and theoretical performance is presented.
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Hu, X., Dauler, E. A., Kerman, A. J., Yang, J. K. W., White, J. E., Herder, C. H., et al. (2009). Using surface plasmons to enhance the speed and efficiency of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. In Proceedings of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2009 and 2009 Conference on Quantum electronics and Laser Science Conference (pp. 1–2).
Abstract: We report our design and fabrication of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors integrated with gold plasmonic nanostructures, which can enhance the absorption of TM-polarized light, and can enlarge the effective area without sacrificing detector speed.
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Hu, X., Dauler, E. A., Molnar, R. J., & Berggren, K. K. (2011). Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors integrated with optical nano-antennae. Opt. Express, 19(1), 17–31.
Abstract: Optical nano-antennae have been integrated with semiconductor lasers to intensify light at the nanoscale and photodiodes to enhance photocurrent. In quantum optics, plasmonic metal structures have been used to enhance nonclassical light emission from single quantum dots. Absorption and detection of single photons from free space could also be enhanced by nanometallic antennae, but this has not previously been demonstrated. Here, we use nano-optical transmission effects in a one-dimensional gold structure, combined with optical cavity resonance, to form optical nano-antennae, which are further used to couple single photons from free space into a 80-nm-wide superconducting nanowire. This antenna-assisted coupling enables a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector with 47% device efficiency at the wavelength of 1550 nm and 9-μm-by-9-μm active area while maintaining a reset time of only 5 ns. We demonstrate nanoscale antenna-like structures to achieve exceptional efficiency and speed in single-photon detection.
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Hu, X., Zhong, T., White, J. E., Dauler, E. A. N., Faraz, Herder, C. H., Wong, F. N. C., et al. (2009). Fiber-coupled nanowire photon counter at 1550 nm with 24% system detection efficiency. Opt. Lett., 34(23), 3607–3609.
Abstract: We developed a fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detector system in a close-cycled cryocooler and achieved 24% and 22% system detection efficiencies at wavelengths of 1550 and 1315 nm, respectively. The maximum dark count rate was ~1000 counts/s.
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